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Hot Weather Menu Plan

This post could be subtitled “How to Eat for the Long Awaited Fiery End of Days,” although I think we all know in a real apocalypse I’m just eating buttered biscuits nonstop until the moment the zombies get me.

This week Portland is about to outdo itself in the weather department with temps climbing to 109 degrees. I grew up in Phoenix, so I know just how awful it’s about to feel as we step out into that dry sauna heat.

On that cheery note, I at least feel prepared to put in as little effort as possible for the week without totally giving up on being healthy and frugal. I still look guiltily over my shoulder for my mother any time I turn on the oven between April and October.

Enter: The Humble Sandwich.

I’ll be tempting fate a little bit a few of the days some level of cooking, but I do happen to be one of the few people I know in Portland with air conditioning so I’d say it’s worth it. And honestly, I ate a bologna sandwich every day as a kid and there’s only so much I can take. Yes, I could live on slight variations on Subway’s cold cut trio for 7 days, or I could live a little on the edge. (I know, I’m terribly exciting.)

I’ll be making this charred tomato and fried egg sandwich to live out my breakfast for dinner dreams. One pan going for a few minutes isn’t going to kill me too much, and a runny sunny side up egg calls to my soul.

For the dinner party I host every Wednesday I’m finally going to try out this giant sandwich for a crowd. I panicked when I remembered that at least one vegetarian and one vegan would be joining us, but I remembered I had tofu in the fridge to make these oven “fried” tofu strips to substitute in for the meat. I’ll sacrifice a little A/C to make sure my meat-abstainers can eat. Pair that with a big bagged salad and that’ll feed a crowd no problem.

This Greek yogurt chicken salad sandwich is going to be so easy with meat from a whole chicken made in my instant pot. I’ll be using a tip I heard from a friend and setting it out on my porch to cook so that the venting doesn’t even happen indoors at the end. I know, my mind was blown too. This one is also easily tackled with a rotisserie chicken of course.

To keep things on the healthier side, I tend to skip slathering on hyper-processed condiments and instead go for the fun mustards or Greek yogurt. I tried to avoid too many straight deli meat dinners as well, and I’m sticking to whole wheat bread (except for the dinner party where I’m getting the crustiest white round loaf I can find).